Reply to post: Similar situation

A floppy filled with software worth thousands of francs: Techie can't take it, customs won't keep it. What to do?

Cynic_999

Similar situation

In the late 1990's I received a panicked call from the accounts department. The outside auditors had arrived to sign off on the annual accounts, and were demanding to physically see various items listed on the assets register. One item was an asset valued at a high 6 figure amount. It was a CAD software suite used to design integrated circuits. The Cadence software was 100% genuine (as was its value at the time), but physically existed on several SunSparc workstations, and so it and the associated licences were just digital files on the same workstations. The workstations themselves would not be acceptable as they were listed as a separate (and far less valuable) asset. I thought of producing the backup tapes, but there was no obvious proof that those tapes contained the software in question. I suppose it would have been possible to produce the paperwork showing the purchases etc, but the auditors, who had not quite caught up with the digital World and were not quite sure what "software" was, were expecting to see a physical asset of some sort.

So I used some graphics software to print a few snazzy labels, put the labels onto some CDs, and the CDs into some ostentatious-looking CD cases I found lying around. I then ushered the auditors into the room containing the firesafe from which, after putting on some white cotton gloves, I delicately and reverently extracted the "valuable" disks - which fortunately satisfied the auditors.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon